


promise no love's like our love

by Fiercest



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Comfort Food, F/F, Fluff, Life in the Horde, One Shot Collection, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:39:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24450712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiercest/pseuds/Fiercest
Summary: A collection of oneshots and excerptsOne:There are no sick days in the Horde, and other cruel rules.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	promise no love's like our love

**Author's Note:**

> This is an excerpt that didn't quite fit into my as yet untitled oneshot about Adora introducing Catra to the joys she's found outside the horde.
> 
> Enjoy!

Catra didn’t _say_ , she _did._ You had to pay attention to her actions, not her words because she’d say things like “I don’t like you”, but then she’d sleep at the foot of your bed and curl her tail around your leg.

Catra knew everything about Adora, including her moods and her tells. No one but Catra could have found her out.

Adora was sick. Really sick. And there wasn’t anything she could do. No one was allowed in the bunk room during daylight hours and they had mandated training for most of the day anyway. Her lungs were aching to fall at her own feet. She felt hot and sweaty but also couldn’t stop shivering.

There were people who got too sick to work and those people met gruesome fates. Adora would not be one of them.

She slid to the floor under the cool spray of her shower and found that she didn’t have the will to stand up again.

The rules were, if you didn’t show up in the mess, you didn’t eat. Everyone’s rations were calculated for optimal caloric intake, so Adora was always hungry before mealtimes. She wasn’t feeling hungry then. No one was given extra rations for later. No one could take leftovers to bring to another soldier.

Horde showers were set to timers. You had one minute and thirty seconds before they shut off automatically.

Adora curled in on herself, naked flesh sliding on the slick tiles. She sat, shivering but still not cool enough, for what felt like an hour. If she wasn’t present at her next training session, she would be found and punished. She tried to get up; she didn’t have the will…

“Hey Adora.” She mustered the strength to look at the speaker. Adora really liked looking at Catra. It made her feel safe, like nothing really bad would happen as long as they were together. There was a sense of security buried with the broken comb teeth in Catra’s mane. She dropped a towel over Adora’s head, “If we’re gonna hang out, I insist on you being clothed.” She wanted to laugh but even that seemed like too much effort. Catra ruffled the towel roughly and Adora realized that she wasn’t bothering her, she was drying her hair. “Thanks,” she said peeking out from underneath the rough cotton.

“Don’t mention it,” then clawed fingers lodged themselves under her armpits and heaved. Adora’s numb legs stumbled over themselves and she fell into Catra. With some effort, she managed to wrap the towel around Adora’s body and carry her out to the benches in the locker room.

More to herself than to Adora, Catra mumbled as she yanked a shirt over her head. “You’re still burning up.” But Adora was still shivering, how did that make sense?

Catra knelt at her feet and tied her shoes, like she was a little kid again. Catra didn’t wear shoes. When they were kids, she learned on Adora’s. (By tying them together and watching her trip.) “Do you think you can walk back to the barracks?”

Adora lied in the affirmative.

In the end, a piggyback ride the long way around was the only way they could manage it. They stayed out of sight, for fear of a reprimand. Catra dropped her on the bottom bunk but stopped her from lying down. “You need to eat something.”

“Too late, lunch’s over.” But sure enough, Catra held out a wrapped block of gray rations. “How did you-?” She unwrapped it and on the inside was most of a bar. A quarter of it was missing and there were crumbly bits where it had been bitten off. This was Catra’s portion, she hadn’t stolen anything.

“Shut up, eat it all,” stomach at her feet and heart in her throat, pulled in a million different directions by this horrible-amazing-confusing feeling, Adora could do nothing but stare at Catra’s face as she ate. Proof of her affection in her hands and mouth.


End file.
